Definition Agricultural productivity can be measured in two different ways, either by partial or total measures. Partial measures such as output per land unit or output per economically active person (EAP) can be misleading because there is no clear indicator why a particular measure change.[1]
Challenge in measuring agricultural productivity is how to compare different agricultural products. Measuring different types of products by weight for instance is not justified as the product characteristics vary. Different crops can be equally measured by converting them to a common unit such as wheat units. Another possibility is to measure productivity in monetary units. It is calculated by summing the value of all production minus intermediate inputs from agricultural sector. [2]
To tackle some of the issues listed above, the TFP ratio (total factor productivity) has been developed. "TFP is the ratio of an index of agricultural output to an index of agricultural inputs. The index of agricultural output is a value-weighted sum of all agricultural production components. The index of agricultural inputs is the value-weighted sum of conventional agricultural inputs."[3]
Connection to food The agricultural productivity is one of the key issues in attempts to ensure sufficient nutrition to everyone on this planet and avoid hunger[4] . UN's target[5] is to double agricultural productivity in terms of amount of food produced. Sustainably increased production would also help to increase food security.
Climate change pose a challenge for this ambitious goal as it makes conditions in certain troublesome areas even more unfavourable while some other areas may benefit climate change as the conditions become more favourable[6] .
Connection to SDGs One of the targets of SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) is that "by 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment"[7] . The increased agricultural productivity is a key for increased income for small-scale farmers as long as the market price remains in a same level. Therefore it would be important to compare yields in nearby farms and try to adopt practices that enable higher yields[8] . Different food labels such as Fair Trade strieves to help farmers to improve their practices and thus increase the production.
Examples of corporate praxis As the cities grow and urban population grows worldwide, agricultural production takes place far from consumption. As the traditional farming requires a lots of space, new and modern practices have been developed in order to increase the overall food production, local production and to reduce resource consumption[9] . In the example below, the vertical farm is built to former factory building. The salad is grown in a reusable cloth made from recycled plastic and thus the production requires no fertilizers and soil. Moreover, it reduces water consumption by 95 per cent compared to a traditional farming.
Examples from Finland In the video, Research Professor Sirpa Kurppa from Natural Resources Institute Finland discuss about the greenhouse growing and the future development in agricultural production such as robotics and vertical farming. As she points out, the productivity and sustainability in greenhouse growing can be easily improved by using energy-saving bulbs, by using renewable energy and by increasing the C02-percentage in the air in the greenhouses.
Robertson, G. & Swinton, S. (2005). Reconciling agricultural productivity and environmental integrity: a grand challenge for agriculture. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Vol. 3, Iss. 1, pp. 38-46
Gornall, J. et al. (2010). Implications of climate change for agricultural productivity in the early twenty-first century. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 365, pp. 2973-2989
Agricultural productivity can be measured in two different ways, either by partial or total measures. Partial measures such as output per land unit or output per economically active person (EAP) can be misleading because there is no clear indicator why a particular measure change.[1]
Challenge in measuring agricultural productivity is how to compare different agricultural products. Measuring different types of products by weight for instance is not justified as the product characteristics vary. Different crops can be equally measured by converting them to a common unit such as wheat units. Another possibility is to measure productivity in monetary units. It is calculated by summing the value of all production minus intermediate inputs from agricultural sector. [2]
To tackle some of the issues listed above, the TFP ratio (total factor productivity) has been developed. "TFP is the ratio of an index of agricultural output to an index of agricultural inputs. The index of agricultural output is a value-weighted sum of all agricultural production components. The index of agricultural inputs is the value-weighted sum of conventional agricultural inputs."[3]
Connection to food
The agricultural productivity is one of the key issues in attempts to ensure sufficient nutrition to everyone on this planet and avoid hunger[4] . UN's target[5] is to double agricultural productivity in terms of amount of food produced. Sustainably increased production would also help to increase food security.
Climate change pose a challenge for this ambitious goal as it makes conditions in certain troublesome areas even more unfavourable while some other areas may benefit climate change as the conditions become more favourable[6] .
Connection to SDGs
One of the targets of SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) is that "by 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment"[7] . The increased agricultural productivity is a key for increased income for small-scale farmers as long as the market price remains in a same level. Therefore it would be important to compare yields in nearby farms and try to adopt practices that enable higher yields[8] . Different food labels such as Fair Trade strieves to help farmers to improve their practices and thus increase the production.
Examples of corporate praxis
As the cities grow and urban population grows worldwide, agricultural production takes place far from consumption. As the traditional farming requires a lots of space, new and modern practices have been developed in order to increase the overall food production, local production and to reduce resource consumption[9] . In the example below, the vertical farm is built to former factory building. The salad is grown in a reusable cloth made from recycled plastic and thus the production requires no fertilizers and soil. Moreover, it reduces water consumption by 95 per cent compared to a traditional farming.
Examples from Finland
In the video, Research Professor Sirpa Kurppa from Natural Resources Institute Finland discuss about the greenhouse growing and the future development in agricultural production such as robotics and vertical farming. As she points out, the productivity and sustainability in greenhouse growing can be easily improved by using energy-saving bulbs, by using renewable energy and by increasing the C02-percentage in the air in the greenhouses.
External links
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
- Natural Resources Institute Finland: Agriculture
Open source articles- Consequences of climate change for European agricultural productivity, land use and policy
- Agricultural Productivity, Comparative Advantage, and Economic Growth
- Food Security: The Challenge of Feeding 9 Billion People
QuizQuiz created by Olli T with GoConqr
Zepeda, L. (n.d.). Agricultural Investment, Production Capacity and Productivity. FAO. Available: http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x9447e/x9447e03.htm (7.2.2017)
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Robertson, G. & Swinton, S. (2005). Reconciling agricultural productivity and environmental integrity: a grand challenge for agriculture. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Vol. 3, Iss. 1, pp. 38-46
Gornall, J. et al. (2010). Implications of climate change for agricultural productivity in the early twenty-first century. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 365, pp. 2973-2989
United Nations (n.d.). Transforming our goal: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development. Available: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/21252030%20Agenda%20for%20Sustainable%20Development%20web.pdf
Despommier, D. (2013). Farming up the city: the rise of urban vertical farms. Trends in Biotechnology, Vol 31, Iss 7, pp. 388–389